Academic adaptation of students with different levels of tolerance to uncertainty

Abstract

The article presents the results of an empirical study on the academic adaptation of students with different levels of tolerance to uncertainty. Tolerance to uncertainty is an important component of students’ adaptation to university life and to their subsequent professional activity in the context of rapid socio-economic transformations, the modernization of the educational environment, and increasing demands on professional competencies and personal qualities in a dynamically changing labor market. The relationship between students’ academic adaptation and their ability to act constructively in situations of uncertainty remains insufficiently understood. The study involved 88 undergraduate (four-year higher education) and specialist-degree (five-year higher education) students from various fields of study aged 18 to 25 years. Psychodiagnostic methods included the Tolerance to Uncertainty Questionnaire by T. V. Kornilova, the Student Academic Adaptation Questionnaire by R. M. Shamionov et al., the Scale of Academic Motivation by T. O. Gordeeva, O. A. Sychev, and E. N. Osin, the Adaptivity Multilevel Personality Questionnaire by A. G. Makkov. The study showed that students with a high level of tolerance to uncertainty exhibited less pronounced external academic motivation, were better adapted to cognitive activity and communication in the learning process, but were more prone to depressive moods. Students with intolerance to uncertainty demonstrated pessimism, social normality, and a low level of individualism, but had a higher level of academic adaptation. Students with a high level of intolerance to uncertainty in interpersonal relationships showed stronger academic motivation but reduced overall level of academic adaptation, reporting communication difficulties, fatigue, and physical and emotional stress during their studies. The findings indicate that students adapt to university education in different ways depending on their ability to accept situations involving incomplete information, uncertainty, or inconsistency. This highlights the need to develop academic adaptation programs that take into account students’ tolerance or intolerance to uncertainty.